Many parents of color send their children to exclusive, predominantly-white schools in an attempt to give their kids a "ticket to upward mobility." But these well-resourced institutions can fall short at nurturing minority students emotionally and intellectually.

After getting swamped with e-mails and Facebook messages raising concerns about her plan to allow advertising at Philadelphia schools, City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has hit the "pause" button."

It appears to be one of the most-expensive school-levy campaigns — if not the most costly — in Ohio. Final campaign-finance reports, released late last week, show that $100,000 donations were coming in days before the polls opened.